The Port Aransas Police Department is not among law enforcement agencies that recently were chosen for federal grants to fund new police positions, according to a notice the city received from the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday, July 28.

However, the notice said PAPD has not been denied in its application for a $600,000 grant to fund four new officers’ positions.

“Currently, your CHRP (COPS Hiring Recovery Program) application remains under a pending status within the COPS office, which means that the proposal is still under consideration,” states the notice signed by Andrew A. Dorr, assistant director for grants administration in the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

“Once the COPS office receives our fiscal year 2010 appropriations, we will know whether additional hiring funds are available and can then determine how best to proceed with all pending requests,” Dorr wrote in the notice, which was e-mailed to Port Aransas City Manager Michael Kovacs and Police Chief Scott Burroughs.

COPS was able to fund only 1,046, or 14 percent, of the 7,272 grant requests that the agency received from police agencies throughout the U.S., Dorr wrote.

If Port Aransas had received the grant, the federal money would have paid for four officers’ salaries and benefits for three years. The city would have been responsible for paying for the officers’ training, weapons, uniforms and other expenses.

The city would be expected to take over paying for the officers’ salaries, benefits and other costs when the grant money runs out in three years.

PAPD currently has 14 sworn officers.